5 Reasons Why Blogging Ain't Easy

14.8.16

As a few of you may know, I stopped blogging for a good year and a bit. In May 2015 I gave it all up. I've absolutely loved blogging since I started back in 2012 (WOAH. Where does time go?!).

At uni, it was my creative outlet. I studied Sociology, which was my 'I have no fucking clue what I want to do with my life' option 😂. Writing was something I was pretty keen on, plus after coming across the whole blogging world, I was inspired to kick a blog off myself. So since things slowly died here, and how I'm picking it back up again, I thought I'd cover off why bloggin' ain't easy (for me at least).

1: TIME ⏰

I became pretty dedicated to my blog whilst at uni, posting up to 3 times a week. The flexibility of uni (*cough* 4 hours a week on campus) enabled me to blog exactly when I wanted between studying, I could take photos, write posts, reply to emails and pick up parcels any day of the week.

Since leaving uni in 2013, things got a hell of a lot busier. No surprises there. Like a lot of other bloggers, I've landed up in marketing and have worked for a couple of fast-paced businesses. It's a good day if I get less than 300 emails (vom) and I can get wrapped up beyond 9-5:30. By the time I get home I just want to crack on with cooking dinner, watch the news, play with the dog, chat with my boyfriend and go to bed.

Weekends are for blogging. I'll admit, one post takes me a good part of a day to photograph, edit, write and schedule. As I'm a bit of a perfectionist. There's only seven days in a week, with five of those pretty much written off to full-time work. And it can be hard being creative without much time to dedicate to post ideas. So I've ramped things down big time. Delivering one blog post a week and doing what I can on Instagram and the rest of my social channels is where I'm at right now. And I'm feeling relatively good about it.

2: PRIORITIES ✔️

In all honesty, blogging has had to become a nice-to-do. I really hate that. But realistically, I want to spend time doing other things. Like going for walks, hunting for a new house (which thankfully is over now, phew!), cleaning (ergh) and watching shit TV (what the HELL is that Naked Attraction show?! Queue a cultural shift in deciding a saggy ballbag is no good in a relationship vs. whether or not someone might share the same interests as you. It's hilarious).

I'll be trying not to condemn myself to the realms of 'shit blogger' too much if by some chance I did miss a post. As, let's face it, there will be a time when I'll decide I'd rather be doing or need to be doing something else. My blog doesn't earn me much these days, so it's literally just a hobby right now.

Also, sadly, being an instagram husband isn't on my boyfriends list of priorities (although I wish it was). There's only so many times I can ask him to re-take a photo of me with a pizza before he actually wants to eat his own dinner. And in all honesty, I normally crack on these days. That food belongs in my belly more than it does on insta!

3: TECHNOLOGY 💻

I really, really struggle with forcing myself to sit in front of my laptop on the weekends when all week I've been propped up by an office chair in a coffee induced state of human-ness staring at a screen. I think part of the issue is that my job is marketing, so one of the last things I want to do when I'm at home is effectively market myself.

It's probably something most of you can relate to, but our lives absolutely revolve around the internet and screens these days. As much as I love it 99% of the time, sometimes you just need to step away! I'm still not great at doing it, I definitely need to work on it.

Fortunately, cameras are wayyy better now than they used to be when I started off blogging. Phone cameras are too. So I get by now without a DSLR (I sold mine off, as I wasn't using them as much), which means no separate lenses. I've got a Sony A5000, which I use from time to time, but I'm quite used to sticking with my iPhone still out of convenience. But I can create a 50mm lens-ish feel from this little baby quite easily. It's also got a Canon D650 style flip out screen. And the picture quality is great. Plus, it's way easier to carry around. So hopefully I can do some more out-and-about snaps! I also quite enjoy snapping away (even though I'm not very good at bloggy photos).

4: ORGANISATION 📝

Sometimes I've found people outside the blogging world are a bit oblivious to the effort that needs to go into blogging. And I'm not surprised. Twitter and Facebook don't show how many posts are scheduled, and of course you're not going to share all those drafted posts with the world. Or even your editorial calendar, if you're prepped like a pro.

Even now, I know I'm not as organised as I could be. But getting a photographer (Anna @ Pear and Bear Photography) to help me shoot my outfits has worked no end in ensuring I always have something I could post. Exploring new angles for my content is 100% the direction I want to go in, as well as using my own photography (as I did in my previous post last week). But Anna kindly does all the selects and editing for me, which makes what I need to do so much easier for simple outfit posts!

This is probably a weird thing to say, but I'm not a naturally organised person. I am so laid back at home, it's unreal. All my organisational efforts go into work... I like to think that that's why I'm so shit outside work at actually getting things done. So being proactive about my blog is sometimes a struggle, as it makes it feel like work to me. Obviously, it's not my job and right now I have no commitments tied to my blog. So I'm taking a more relaxed approach to things to ensure I can enjoy it as a hobby.

5: MONEY 💸

In no way do I think dollar should be a must-have in blogging. However, things have changed big time over the years. When I first started out I took photos in a mouldy (kid you not) corner of my uni room. Look here if you want the evidence! Nowadays, far more bloggers are doing streetstyle shoots, and yep I've jumped on the bandwagon (as a perfectionist). But back in the day a minority of people used photographers. Now, it's actually quite common.

I don't spend much on photography, as I cover off a months worth of posts in a half day shoot. I was mega fortunate that one of my colleagues from work who also has a blog, Allie, had found a fab photographer, who I now use too.

Fashion or even lifestyle blogging is also an inherently consumerism driven. So unless you're gifted items for every post, you're going to have to spend some moolah from time to time. At uni, I genuinely found this a lot easier as I didn't have as much serious shiz to spend my money on. I'd always prefer new clothes to a night out anyway. Even to this day! Having recently bought a house, and wanting to get back into blogging, I've had to budget for clothes and any money spent on shoots. It's actually kind of good that I've been forced into doing a really regimented budget! As it's means I know what's going on with my dosh.

So that's why blogging has been a toughie for me over the past year. By trying to stick to my realistic once a week posting schedule and taking a chilled approach to it, things are getting back on track! What do you guys find tough about blogging? Would love to know how you try to make blogging easier for yourselves too!

19 comments

I relate so much to this post! I am a perfectionist too so getting one good post a week is like a job well done in my eyes. I love your outfit shots though! I need to get back into that side of things I think...

I agree with each and every point! I still have to force my partner to take my outfit photos but with his own business his time is few and far between and sometimes forcing him to do it on a weekend just feels mean! Which in turns means I can go a couple of weeks without outfit posts!

I found that I really struggled getting the work-blog balance right after I left uni! I was so used to being able to pick up blog stuff whenever I wanted and for as long as I wanted and I do miss that a little

Deffo time and money for me! Being behind a computer every day makes you want to make the most of your weekends, not open your laptop! Hey ho! Thankfully I still love it :-) abso loving your outfit too BTW. xx

I can relate to this so much - whilst I was at uni, I had all the time in the world to blog, and it became a good outlet, but now, it all seems to have become so much more professional, and I just don't have the time whilst working a marketing job!

I always remember your blog, when I first started, though, because yours was kind of what I was aspiring to be in a lot of ways :)francesca | francescasophia.co.uk xx